The scene in which Steiger sees all those massacred people in the cave supposedly made an incredible impression on italians upon the films release. I can't remember why. It was either mentioned in Fraylings book, or in the Sergio Leone: Once Upon A Time documentary. It was either based on something that had actually happened in Italy, and thereby made an impression on the italians, or it was based on a very famous painting all italians knew. I've been thinking Goya, but haven't found any paintings similar to the scene. Does anyone here know? Please help, this is driving me crazy.

Hi guys,longtime viewer, first time poster. Love the site. Regarding the grotto massacre sequence in DYS, according to Frayling, it is based on an infamous chapter of ww2 where the Nazi's slaughtered a few hundred (I think, certainly a high number) of Italian civilians at or in a cave near an Italian town. Leone apparently designed such sequences in DYS to make the viewer think of 'all wars' and this sequence was immediately recognised by Italian viewers, as was the scene where the disguised officer is captured and executed on the railway station platform. This is also based on an infamous moment from Italy's ww2, but I cannot recall any more details. I was actually able to get my hands on the Japanese two disk special edition of DYS via a Japanese friend. Picture quality is so-so, but it was great to see the extra scenes and have the film in the correct aspect ratio. Heaven! (this was before the UK dvd release materialised)Great to be on board!

The Goya painting Shorty Larsen refers to is called 3rd of May Massacre, and it is visualized in this film. In fact, Leone supposedly based the entire look of the film on Goya's Disasters Of War-series. Great pictures, great film.